Toy vehicle with dual winches



b- 1970 B. E. BALTHAZOR 3,492,757

' TOY VEHICLE WITH DUAL WINCHES Filed May 27, 1968 INVENTOR. B. E. BALTHAZO R United States Patent 3,492,757 TOY VEHICLE WITH DUAL WINCHES Bernard E. Balthazar, Moline, 11]., assignor to Buddy L Corporation, Moline, Ill. Filed May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,240 Int. Cl. A63h 33/30, 11/10 U.S. C]. 46-40 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy vehicle representively embodying a wrecker truck having dual cranes or derrick arms and dual Winches, one winch for each crane, and control means for operating the winches in unison or independently of each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Toy vehicles in the form of Wreckers and the like are of course well known and these to a large extent are patterned after actual-size vehicles, with considerable ingeniousness devoted to duplication of structure and function within the limitations imposed by the small scales on which the toys are constructed. One of the principal problems to be solved is that of duplicating the function of a full-size complicated mechanism, especially where the full-size vehicle utilizes actual motive power, such as power take-offs, hydraulic lifts etc., because such components cannot be faithfully reproduced in a toy except at great expense. The toy designer therefore resorts to manually operated mechanisms and attempts to make these as representative as possible of their actual-size counterparts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a basic vehicle, such as a toy wrecker, is modified by the provision of a dual winch and crane system wherein there are two cranes or derrick arms mounted for independent lateral shifting and two winches, one for each crane or arm and having a simulated cable and hook system for hoisting, pulling etc. The winches are compactly arranged in association with an input shaft and gear means is provided among the shaft and winches, including shiftable gears whereby the two winches, and thus their cables, may be operated simultaneously or independently of each other. A selector is provided for selecting the condition of the gears and this selector forms part of at least a simulated warning or hazard lamp, such as is conventionally found on wrecker and other highway, wrecker, police etc. vehicles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one form of the invention, with portions broken away;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan of the rear portion of FIG. 1, showing one of the cranes swung to one side;

FIG. 3 is a view, generally on the line 33 of FIG. 1, illustrating the crane and winch support;

FIG. 4 is a section as seen generally along the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view showing the gear means as operative to drive the winches in unison; and

'ice

FIG. 6 is a similar view but Sl'lOWlIlg the gear means shifted to a position for operating one winch independently of the other.

DESCRIPTION or A PREFERRED FORM or THE INVENTION The vehicle serves as a base means and as such comprises a fore-and-aft chassis 10 carried on front and rear wheels 12 and 14 and including a cab 16 and a rear body or box 18 having a flat bed or floor 20. All this structure may be conventionally formed of pressed steel or plastic or a combination of the two and, as seen, the toy is substantially a scale model of a fullsize truck.

Just behind the cab, the floor 20 has rigidly secured thereto in any suitable manner a box-like support designated in its entirety at 22. A typical mounting of the support on the floor may be achieved by slotting the floor at several locations and inserting support-carried tabs through the slots and bending the tabs over as suggested at 24. The support is preferably of pressed steel to provide adequate strength. This support has opposite upright side walls 26 and an integral top wall 28, and its rear wall is preformed with generally rectangular openings whose marginal edges provide integral bent-in or bent-out ears, two of which are lower ears 30 spaced laterally apart and cooperative with an integral lower transverse flange 34 to carry a pair of upright pivot pins 36. A pair of similarly laterally spaced apart upper ears 38 carry pivots 40 respectively coaxial with the pins 36. The lower pivots 36 respectively carry the lower ends of upwardly and rearwardly inclining crane or derrick arms 42 and 44 and the upper pivots provide forward connections for rearwardly extending braces 46 and 48 Which have their rear ends hooked into the arms 42 and 44 and the upper pivots provide forward connections for rearwardly extending braces 46 and 48 which have their rear ends hooked into the arms 42 and 44, respectively, the whole providing a derrick means in which the arms 42 and 44 may be freely swung laterally, within limits, to extend straight rearwardly or laterally to the respective side of the vehicle body (FIG. 2). In a simulated operation, one arm may be swung to one side for connection to a wrecked vehicle off the road and the other arm may be swung to the opposite side to secure a purchase on a tree or other fixed object at the opposite side of the road by means of cables or flexible elements to be described subsequently.

The side walls 26 of the support 22 are coaxially apertured on a transverse axis to joumal a drive shaft 50 having at its left-hand end a wheel 52 provided with a handle 54, this shaft preferably being formed of an adequately heavy section of wire in which the wheel and handle are formed integrally. This shaft has a drive gear 56 fixed thereto intermediate the support walls 26.

Part of the apertured rear wall structure of the support 22 includes forwardly bent cars 58 and 60, laterally spaced apart and parallel to the walls 22 for coaxially journalling rightand left-hand winches 62 and 64 on which are wound flexible elements or simulated cables 66 and 68, which cables are guided through apertures 70 in the support top wall 28 and extend over sheaves or guides 72 and 74 respectively at the upper rear ends of the crane arms 42 and 44. Each cable is fitted with a weighted hook 76 (FIG. 1). Each winch is in the form of a shaft, the right-hand winch 62 being journalled in the right-hand apertured ear 58 and the adjacent side wall 26 and the left-hand winch 64 being coaxially journalled in the left-hand apertured car 60 and its companion side wall 22 (FIG. 3). The winches respectively have affixed thereto gears 78 and 80 adapted to be engaged with or disengaged from the drive gear 56 (FIGS. 3, and 6). All three gears may be of any suitable material, such as molded plastic having good wear qualities. The winch 62, as well as its winch gear 78, is biased axially inwardly so as to mesh its gear with the input or drive gear 56, a coiled compression spring 82 being found suitable for this purpose and acting between the gear 78 and the proximate ear 58 (FIGS. 3, 5 and 6). A similar spring 84 performs the same function for the winch 64.

Since the springs 82 and 84 normally bias the winches axially inwardly or toward each other, both winch gears 78 and 80 will normally mesh with the gear 56 on the drive shaft 50 and therefore both cables 66 and 68 will be wound and unwound in unison. However, it is desirable that either winch be operative independently of each other and, accordingly, the gear means 56, 78, 80 is designed for shifting among three conditions, the accomplishment of which rests in part on the above-described nature of the winch shafts as being axially slidably carried as well as being journalled in their respective supporting means (ears 58 and 60 and support side Walls 26); i.e., each winch is shiftable laterally outwardly against the bias of its spring 82 or 84. The shiftability is such that the shifted winch or driven gear disengages from the driving gear 56, as best seen in FIG. 6.

The shiftable gear means 56, 78, 80 is under the control of tri-positionable means 86, here including a vertical shaft element 88 journalled in the support top wall 28 and in another bent-in ear 90 formed from the rear wall structure of the support 22. As best seen in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, the inwardly biased gears 78 and 80 are limited to positions in which they are spaced axially apart to accommodate a cranked or yoke portion 92 in the shaft element 88, here again resort being had to forming the means 86 from an adequately heavy section of steel wire. 7

The means for turning the element 88 is here a knob 94 fixed to the upper end of the shaft element exteriorly of the support top wall 28, which knob here is dome shaped and takes the form of a simulated hazard or warning lamp, preferably colored red or typically yellow etc. as is conventional on full-size vehicles of this type. It follows, of course, that an actual battery powered lamp etc. could be used except for the increase in cost. To shift gears, the user simply turns the knob 94 from a central neutral position, in which both winch gears 78 and 80 are in mesh with the driving gear 56, to either side by 90, disengaging one or the other of the winch gears from the gear 56 so that the selected in-mesh gear will reel its cable 66 or 68 in or out. FIG. 6 shows the winch gear 80 disengaged from the input gear 56 because the means 86 has been turned 90 clockwise as seen from above. The knob 94 may have a pointer 96 thereon and the top support wall 28 may have indicators 98 and 100 to show the position of the knob (FIG. 2). As best shown in FIG. 3, the outer ends of the shafts on which the winches 62 and 64 are based may be headed to provide stops for limiting inward movement of the winches to an extent providing for the axially spaced apart relationship that accommodates the element yoke or crank 92.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy comprising base means including upwardly and outwardly inclining derrick means having a pair of spaced apart guides, a pair of separate winches, means joumaling the winches on the base means for rotation independently of each other, a pair of flexible elements wrapped separately on the winches and extending respectively over said guides, a drive shaft, means journaling said shaft on the base means, shiftable gear means operatively arranged among the shaft and winches and selectively shiftable to connect the shaft to both winches simultaneously or to either winch independently of the other, tri-positionable means for selectively shifting the gear means, and means for rotating the shaft selectively in opposite directions irrespective of the position of the tripositionable means.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the derrick means includes a pair of separate arms mounted on the base means for independent lateral swinging, and the means joumaling the shaft and winches is fixed to the base means to isolate the shaft and Winches from swinging of the arms.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 in which the winches are journaled coaxially and the shaft is journaled on a parallel axis.

4. The invention defined in claim 3 in which the gear means includes a drive gear fixed to the shaft and a pair of driven gears rotatable respectively with the winches and axially shiftable selectively into and out of mesh with the drive gear.

5. The invention defined in claim 4 in which the driven gears are biased axially toward each other into closely axially spaced apart relation and into common mesh with the drive gear, and the tri-positionable means includes an element extending neutrally between the biased-together driven gears and selectively movable in opposite directions for disengaging either driven gear from the drive gear.

6. The invention defined in claim 5 in which the element is in the form of a crank having a shaft portion turnable about an axis normal to the winch axis and an arm portion extending between the winch gears.

7. The invention defined in claim 6 in which the shaft portion of said element includes a control knob fixed thereto and constructed as a warning signal.

8. The invention defined in claim 1 in which the base means includes a vehicle body, the derrick means comprises a pair of separate arms carried by the body for relative lateral swinging independently of each other, the means journaling the shaft and winches comprises a support carried by the body independently of the swingable arms and including laterally spaced apart side walls and a top wall, said shaft and winches are journaled in the side walls, and said top well serves to carry at least part of the tri-positionable means.

9. The invention defined in claim 8, in which the winches are journaled coaxially, the shaft is journaled on a parallel axis, the gear means includes a drive gear fixed to the shaft and a pair of driven gears fixed respectively to the winches, each winch and its driven gear are axially movable and are biased axially as a unit inwardly toward the other winch and its driven gear and into mesh with the drive gear, and the tri-positionable means is neutrally operative to enable such biased-mesh of the driven gears with the drive gear or operatively positionable to axially shift either winch and its driven gear out of mesh with the drive gear.

10. The invention defined in claim 9, in which the tripositionable means is an element in the form of a crank having a shaft portion turnable in the support about an axis normal to the winch and shaft axes and an arm portion extending between the driven gears, said driven gears in their inward positions being spaced axially apart to receive said arm portion.

11. A toy comprising base means, a pair of separate derrick arms, a pair of separate pivot means respectively mounting the arms on the base means for independent lateral swinging, a pair of winch and cable means, one for each arm, a single rotatable operating member on the base means, and means for selectively connecting said member to either winch and cable means independently of the other or to both winch and cable means simultaneously.

12. The invention defined in claim 11, in which the toy is a simulated wrecker and tow truck, the base means includes a wheeled body on which the arms are mounted,

5 6 and the means for operating the winch and cable means 3,201,897 8/1965 Balthazor 46-39 XR includes a simulated warning signal. 3,358,850 12/1967 Neils 46-40 XR References Cited F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 JAMES A. OLIFF, Assistant Examiner 1,340,893 5/1920 Haas 212-65 2,450,798 10/1948 Heinss 254139.1XR US. Cl. X.R.

3,104,015 9/1963 Goldfarb 4640 XR 46-202 

